On Monday, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) defined the judicial sentences imposed on Cristiana Chamorro and Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, members of the board of the Managua newspaper La Prensa, as an “aberration to freedom of expression and of the press” as an “aberration to freedom of expression and of the press”.
IAPA President Jorge Canahuati said that “the lack of independence of Nicaraguan judges who continue to issue rulings without due process to satisfy the dictatorship is obvious.”
Canahuati, executive president of Grupo Opsa, Honduras, added that “these convictions are an aberration against freedoms of expression and of the press and an affront to the rule of law.”
On March 11, Cristiana Chamorro, former presidential candidate and former president of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation (FVBch), under house arrest since June 2, 2021, was found guilty of money laundering, appropriation and wrongful detention.
“They violate freedom of expression and I will continue to defend that legacy left by my father,” he said upon hearing the verdict and referring to the director of La Prensa, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, who was killed in 1978.
The chairman of the Commission on Freedom of the Press and Information, Carlos Jornet, said that “with these failures, the Ortega-Murillo regime is trying to legitimize the closure of media and the persecution of journalists.”
Jornet, journalistic director of La Voz del Interior, Argentina, added that “the government has already managed to close the circle of absolute censorship.”
Justice also condemned Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Barrios, former vice-president of the FVBch.
Cristiana and Pedro Joaquín, together with Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, general manager of La Prensa jailed since August 14, 2021, are part of the newspaper's board of directors.
The verdict is scheduled to be read on 21 March. The Prosecutor's Office asks for eight years in prison for Cristiana Chamorro and nine for Pedro Joaquín Chamorro.
On the same date, two former FVBCH workers, Walter Gómez and Marcos Fletes, were also sentenced, for whom the Prosecutor's Office requests 13 years in prison, and seven against Pedro Vasquez, personal driver of Cristiana Chamorro.
The FVBch ceased operations in February 2021, when the government implemented a law to control external funding for non-governmental organizations.
In February, journalists Miguel Mora, 13 years, and Miguel Mendoza, were sentenced to nine years in prison.
According to the Chapultepec Index, an IAPA tool for measuring respect for press freedom, there is no such right in Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba.
The IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and expression in the Americas, consisting of more than 1,300 publications and headquartered in Miami.
(With information from EFE)
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